Roy
Depends on what your priorities are, the crisis with our economy or entertaining the dinner crowd at Nuri's[/quote]That would be breakfast crowd. The dinner crowd will be in the states! :P
Tim
Bloody Mary's instead of Martinis :oops:
Sumatra
Yep,That's what we need, a couple of liars verbally slugging it out in the public arena. All it will decide is who is the most persuasive liar. Talk about ridiculous, two presidential candidates in a virtual dead heat, having meetings with "little bush" supposedly about saving our souls but the real subject of their discussions is how to divide the spoils amongst themselves. Real lousy theater performed by half-ass thespians.These bums don't give a damn about their constituents, it's just another opportunity for them to line their pockets with gold and garner more of the political power they crave. That's it, in a nutshell and nothing more.
Roy
Interesting, isn't it, how Sarah Palin isn't mentioned much in our continued political discussions. Could it be that most Republicans are embarrassed by being pulled into, and entrapped by a circus act? Shall I use the word, gullible? As I write, McCain has less than 12 hours to show up in Mississippi. Maybe I'll have to wear my "Chicken George" outfit to Nuris tomorrow morning, changing the name George, to John.This circus is being orchestrated by the Republican party. The extent of this circus and its desired effect on the American people should be taken as a monumental insult, but sadly, it isn't. The drama continues, and who isn't speechless as we all watch it unfold?
Sumatra
Alright already, I'm monumentally insulted and embarrassed! If I were speechless, it would be due to shame. The people who share my feelings on this issue are the true minority.Both parties are guilty of turning this into a circus. It's painful to watch all the vultures on BOTH SIDES, squabble over the corpse of the US economy, at this point it's degenerated into a shouting match about who gets to jump out of the plane with a golden parachute and who gets to free fall all the way down.In the end, each and every tax paying citizen will be forced to fork over nearly $3,000 to cover the expense of this intentional malfeasance. The other night I was listening to NPR on my way home and they were interviewing two loan officers who used to work for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Loan officers were told they weren't allowed ask an applicant if they were in possession of a green card. A GREEN CARD FOR CHRIST SAKES!!!!!!!!When the wife and I applied for just a simple, no frills home loan, the only thing the mortgage lender DIDN'T ask for was blood work and a strip search. :evil:
Tim
You don't have lobbist working day & night for you Sumatra, only your local representative. :wink:
Roy
Just back from watching the debate in the company of great friends and fellow expats, the general assessment can be noted:1)McCain appeared desperate, and was patronizing to Obama...he has no class. 2)Obama let the patronizing flow off his back like water on a duck...he has total class. 3)While foreign policy is supposed to be McCain's long suit, he failed to come out better than a tie with Obama on those issues. 4)Classic stupid line goes to McCain..."do you know that south Koreans are on average three inches taller than the north Koreans?" That line brought the house down! We expected great entertainment, and we got some of that. McCain lives in the past with little concern to the future, and Obama is a visionary with truly new ideas that can change our future.Next week is the main entertainment event....Biden and Palin. If Palin is lucky, maybe someone on her side will have explained to her that the proximity of Alaska to Russia just doesn't add up to one rupiah worth of foreign policy experience.
Thorsten
I haven't seen the debate last night, only parts of it in review and I read the quotes and the critics this morning with interest.Here in the German media, the question who won or lost this debate is answered with a draw, or like Spiegel online stated, nobody could win this debate, but definitely the audience lost.From what I have seen, I'm rather disappointed by both of them and Obama was a lame duck, wished to know why he did not use the collapse of US banking system to point on the responsibility of the Republican Government neither the for record State's deficit.In respect to Iraq - I see McCain clearly in front, this - I never wanted this war point from Obama is meaningless in the current situation, he will have to deal with the situation as bad as it is.I don't understand the psyche of American voter and probably I never will, but I can not get through the strategy of this debate from both opponents, it was weak and there was not much substance in this at all.I was not expecting much from John McCain, though I was expecting much more from BO, I think he missed a chance tonight.Best regardsThorsten
milan
I see McCain as calm, cool and collected.I didn't know that it'd take class to solve problems of terrorism, financial disaster, health care in America.Obama was rattled, wet-behind-his-bat-ears and stuttering, regardless of his scholar language. I don't see why noone seemed to notice that he hit the mike even. And he kept saying: " Senator McCain is right" like 20 times!Just my two-cent again.
josefk
I saw the debate and it was laughable...I think the US needs to revise it's election system..this farce goes on for far too long.Thorsten...I think it would be very hard for Obama to blame the current mortgage crisis on the republicans...it started way before their tenure with poor control of the credit vs. debit balance and is merely a result of the financial institutions reaping the rewards of poor management and control over a long period of time...it's a bit like the Labour party in the UK taking the credit for the UK consistently being the top European economy in the 90's and early 00's...the sound economic foundation was put in place by the Conservatives in the 80's......interesting that neither of the two hopeful's have put forward a robust plan to stop this from happening again isn't it?I think we are rapidly getting into a debate about who is the best of a bad bunch...I support Obama then, McCain can't think and speak at the same time...
BaliLife
I see McCain as calm, cool and collected.I didn't know that it'd take class to solve problems of terrorism, financial disaster, health care in America.Obama was rattled, wet-behind-his-bat-ears and stuttering, regardless of his scholar language. I don't see why noone seemed to notice that he hit the mike even. And he kept saying: " Senator McCain is right" like 20 times!Just my two-cent again.[/quote]oh horsesh*t!obama wiped his arse with mccain, but in a classy way.. roy's observations were right on..anyhow, republican strategists claim mccain won and democrats claim obama won - but the republican strategists know that mccain lost it - big time, as is clear by independent analysis.. were you guys following the green line? the green line told it all..do a google news search for "debate poll" and you'll see a swath of reports by independent news sources that all say the same thing - obama won on mccains home ground... ouch...[url="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/27/debate.poll/?iref=hpmostpop"]http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/27/ ... =hpmostpop[/url][url="http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2208"]http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2208[/url][url="http://www.theimproper.com/Template_Article.aspx?IssueId=6&ArticleId=2421"]http://www.theimproper.com/Template_Art ... cleId=2421[/url]ct
Thorsten
Balilife,It's itching in my fingers to write a response, but since I'm just watching an old Paul Newman movie (RIP Paul) I will spare this.I remember lively the debates (which I saw all live) Bill Clinton vs. George Bush senior, you will certainly not remember - guess that time you have been busy to watch your pubic hair growing - so you also will not know the difference when Clinton (just to grab your terminology) wiped his ass with Bush, he was providing solid facts and numbers in these debates, not just dribble like Obama did last night.Best regardsThorsten
josefk
Agreed Thorsten RIP Paul Newman...now he was a class act and put his money where his mouth is
BaliLife
guess that time you have been busy to watch your pubic hair growing[/quote]probably thorsten.. but what were you doing then? watching the hair on your head fall out? :wink:after your dismissal of historical facts on hitler and the nazis, i'll respectully take your views with a pinch of shit :lol: ct
Sumatra
Bravo Thorsten! Bravo!!!!!!!!!!
Thorsten
probably thorsten.. but what were you doing then? watching the hair on your head fall out? :wink:[/quote]I think I was doing what you have been only dreaming about that time :wink:For the rest, let's discuss it when you will have a clue what you are talking about - ok ?
BaliLife
thorsten, glad you have an ally on this one (i.e. Don).. I won't look too far into the quality of your alliance or of it's members, but i'm glad you have a like minded thinker.. So given this, when are you thinking of buying your first revolver? or are you already carrying one on your hip to shoot all those "liberal bastards" you pretend to support?ct
ronb
You guys seem to have viewed the debate through glasses tinted with your party preference. A quite striking feature to me was the way they would not reposnd to very direct questions from Jim Lehrer - but then they are both politicians aren't they. Here is just one bit from the transcript as an example where Obama responds to a question on cuts by saying what he wants to spend:LEHRER: But if I hear the two of you correctly neither one ofyou is suggesting any major changes in what you want to do aspresident as a result of the financial bailout? Is that what you'resaying?OBAMA: No. As I said before, Jim, there are going to be thingsthat end up having to be ...LEHRER: Like what?OBAMA: ... deferred and delayed. Well, look, I want to makesure that we are investing in energy in order to free ourselves fromthe dependence on foreign oil. That is a big project. That is amulti-year project.LEHRER: Not willing to give that up?OBAMA: Not willing to give up the need to do it but there may beindividual components that we can't do. But John is right we have tomake cuts. We right now give $15 billion every year as subsidies toprivate insurers under the Medicare system. Doesn't work any betterthrough the private insurers. They just skim off $15 billion. Thatwas a give away and part of the reason is because lobbyists are ableto shape how Medicare works.[/quote]The full transcript is here: [url]http://www.olemiss.edu/debate/debate_news/details.php?id=58[/url]
Roy
Ron, there is NO way in the world that either McCain or Obama could possibly answer that question until AFTER the impact of any "Rescue Package" is felt, analyzed and calculated in terms of net tax revenues. In our group that question was viewed as meaningless, especially considering that when asked, neither candidate knew the specifics of this "Rescue Package." Even right now, no one knows the complete details of this package as it hasn't been passed by Congress.As for Iraq, Obama hit the nail on the head. The war on terrorism is in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan...not in Iraq.
Sumatra
Au contraire Roy,They both damn well know the terms of this impending bailout plan and what they intend to do as a result of this upon becoming president. The problem is that revealing their intentions at this point in the game, could easily become political suicide for either one of them. It's no wonder Big O and the decrepit one were dancing like cats on a hot tin roof.Jim Lehrer is a sharp guy. Why do you think he nailed them with that question in the first place?All roads to the war on terrorism lead to Iran and Syria. You've never heard of flanking, then surrounding the enemy after dividing their forces? The taking of Iraq creates an enormous buffer zone between Syria and Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are flanking maneuvers designed to further isolate Iran, as does our overpowering naval presence in and around the Strait of Hormuz. A quick look at a world map is most telling.Don
